Guest Designer: Rebekah Williams

Please help me welcome this week's guest designer, Rebekah Williams. This mixed media artist has it all together! Lately, papercrafting has a new friend called fabric. Rebekah's first love is fabric and her designs bridge that gap between fabric and paper, creating in a way that inspires me to speak more lovingly, than harshly, at my sewing machine. Not only does Rebekah create to bring joy to friends and family, she writes about her life journey on her blog, Yee Bird. You will be tickled at her posts and occasionally laugh out loud. Sit back and be ready to be inspired...

My creative manifesto . . . Sew it. ‘Shop it. Spend it wisely.

Sew it:

Fabric. I love it. A LOT. My sewing machine gets major action. Sewing is my first love, so I just naturally gravitate toward sewing and using fabric on all my paper crafts, when I’m not just sewing, period. Fabrics have so many colors, styles, patterns—the options are infinite.

[For the non-seamstress: let me take this moment to urge you to learn to sew. Don’t walk. RUN to grandma’s house or your nearest sewing class and get stitchin’. And don’t give up. You will forever love it, I promise!]

‘Shop it:

Photoshop, that is. Never underestimate the power of adding simple text to a picture in Photoshop! When it’s 11 p.m. and we captured a rockin’ photo that day but know we’ll forget its story if we wait to scrapbook the perfect layout, Photoshop is our friend. Tons of digital scrapbooking goodies are out there, and I love them, but sometimes, I like to keep it simple and remember it’s more about the story than the style.

Spend it wisely:

And by “it,” I mean our time. As wife to Nathan and mama to two sweet little ones, my time/life is about my family. Time is short and responsibilities are many, so most often I spend my crafting energy on have-to-do projects. Examples include creating a fun, out-of-the-box birthday invite for Lilly, making a book Ian can “read”, or designing an "I love our life" book so Nathan receives a handmade Father’s Day gift. Lilly needs invitations, Ian needs to learn to read, Nathan needs to be appreciated on Father’s Day, and I need my craft-it fix. Voila! Spending time wisely.

Whatever your stage of life, I wish you many hours of sewing, Photoshopping, and spending time wisely. Whatever you do, enjoy every moment.

Rebekah also designs for Triple the Sketch. You can follow her creative manifesto at her blog, Yee Bird.

Create Well: Sew it. ‘Shop it. Spend it wisely.